ghost

[shesepankh]

Kindergarten teacher Renée Higgenbotham Swan (36) was killed in a car crash one mile from her residence in Phoenix, AZ, January 9, 2005. She is survived by her daughter Isabella (16). Her service will be held at -

Bella has the entire obituary pasted into a page of one of her compilation notebooks but tends not to re-read past the first lines. It's repellent. The concept of obituaries is repellent. The funeral is over. Renée's vibrant brief life has been summed up over the course of a paragraph, and is also over.

Bella pretends to sleep on the plane. Her neighbor is talkative and she doesn't want to say shut up, my mom just died, because - what if it doesn't work? What if this news doesn't have the power to bludgeon everyone else into stunned silence the way it does Bella?

Charlie collects her. Charlie hugs her. Charlie doesn't make her talk. Good wonderful understanding quiet Charlie does not say a word. He takes her home. Her room's where she left it last August.

It's raining.

Bella stays home, moving in, moping, for a day, and then she shows up at school, gray-faced and withdrawn. First class is English. Okay, whatever.

The teacher wants her to introduce herself. Bella wants to yank on the skinny end of his tie until he regrets making her.

She stands at the front of the room and says that her name is Bella Swan and she's moved here to live with her dad. The teacher makes an impatient go on gesture and she stands there for a moment before robotically saying the same thing she produced at the beginning of the year in her old school in Phoenix when they were doing go-around-the-room-and-share-facts. "I'm one of those people who actually likes Shakespeare."

He lets her sit down.

She sits.

Comments

[shesepankh]

"That must make the running through of the creatures with the swords so much less efficient, though," she teases. She slides off the couch onto the floor and goes fullform there with more room to stretch out. She's quite stretchy.

[castmyown]

"I'm perfectly okay with killing things not being efficient. I tend to play wizards, anyway, so I threaten ultimate cosmic power until they behave. Or, if I'm under level five or something, I cry in a corner."

[shesepankh]

"Who do you even play with? Savannah doesn't seem like the type, Angela's never mentioned it..."

[castmyown]

"Really no one now, it kind of sucks. I had a group I'd play with in Detroit, but haven't managed to replace them. Thus, why I suggested it as a thing you should do." He coughs. "I'm kinda selfish, sometimes."

[shesepankh]

"Oh no, selfishness, how terrible, Dad you should arrest him, he wants me to play Dungeons and Dragons."

[sundayfish]

Charlie snorts.

[castmyown]

Darren snickers. "Will I meet other players in jail? Maybe we could get a prison-themed campaign going."

[shesepankh]

"How do you even theme a campaign around a prison? Why would there be goblins or anything in one?"

(Bella really seems to like having a tail. It is not holding still.)

[castmyown]

"Could be a prison containing the most dangerous criminals in the world, including lots of different species because this is D&D and there are always lots of different creatures. You character could be innocent of horrific crime, or not, and when the prison - does a thing, like, maybe riots or wrestles control from authorities in some other manner you get to react accordingly. Either try to help the police and clear your name or help in escape."

(Darren is amused by her tail and shapeshifting experiments. Whenever she does a new thing he will look at her, curiously, to see what it is.)

[shesepankh]

"Huh. I could see this killing an afternoon if we burn out on magic lessons. If you can do it with two people, which I wouldn't know."

[castmyown]

"It kind of needs more than two, honestly. I mean maybe I could pull something where I both DM and have a character, but that seems cheaty. 'We find a treasure trove filled with fancy wizard gear and now my character is a walking god' and all."

[shesepankh]

"Are you liable to do that?"

[sundayfish]

Charlie gets up and heads to the kitchen. "Sandwiches, anybody?" he wonders aloud.

[shesepankh]

"I'll take turkey if you're offering but only put the mayo on one side because you always slather it on," says Bella. (Tail-lash tail-lash tail is gone because eating while a sphinx sounds difficult. She sits up on the couch again.)

[castmyown]

"No, but I would give out everything but wizard in fear of making myself too powerful. It would probably drive me a little crazy, trying very hard to be fair."

He glances at Charlie. "None for me, thank you."

[steppingup]

"Same. We do need to head home and get dinner soon, though. Or find some other food solutions."

[sundayfish]

"You are welcome to stay," clarifies Charlie. "Though I suppose that leaves Savannah fending for herself. She can come too if she has a way to get here."

[steppingup]

"Thanks, that's very kind of you. It's okay, though, we shouldn't let Savannah stew, anyway. We should head home."

[castmyown]

"... Um. How mad at me is she?"

[steppingup]

"Let's just say you should be the one to cook and hope the food offering calms her down."

[castmyown]

Wince. "Right. This'll be fun."

[shesepankh]

"...Why is she mad at you?"

[steppingup]

"She is kind of upset about the wing thing. Telling your dad on the phone before calling me or her, and 'freaking out.' She thinks it's unfair and that Darren should have done better."

[shesepankh]

"...My dad took it fine and I'm not angry. I resent people being angry on my behalf without my permission."

[steppingup]

Vernon shrugs. "It's what she feels. Don't know what else to say."